When it comes to printers you can utilize in your home, it’s best to stick to inkjet, photo, or laser printers. Any of these types of printers are great for work, school, crafts, or general household operations like printing out recipes or to-do lists. Myself and other ZDNET experts have analyzed the best printers within each category no matter what your home setup looks like. Also: The best cheap printers (starting at ($105) Also: See how the top 10 inkjet printers compare: Epson, HP, Brother, and more The EcoTank printer comes with ink tanks that can be refilled from bottled ink. Epson estimates that one set of ink bottles provides the equivalent of about 80 cartridges. If you print often, especially in color, this cartridge-free approach can save you a lot of money. The EcoTank’s print speed is 15 pages per minute for black and white, and 8 pages per minute for color. Additionally, this unit includes Wi-Fi direct so you can print without connecting to a router. A big advantage is that it includes enough ink to print 7,500 pages in black and 6,000 in color, which may justify the printer’s upfront cost. In addition, it has an auto-document feeder, two-sided printing, and activation compatibility for even more productivity. While the standout feature of this printer is its price, it’s worth noting that you’ll never have to run to the store when you run out of ink again. This printer already includes two full cartridges in the box, and with the HP Instant Ink subscription, you can get your first four months free. After the trial period, you’ll pay less than $1 per month, with shipping and ink cartridge recycling included. Plus, it features a 60-sheet paper tray and can print at 8 pages per minute in black and 5.5 pages per minute in color. If you’re looking for a quality printer for less than $100, this is the one. You can print from your Android or iOS device, as well as your computer, via Wi-Fi. Additionally, you can quickly scan and copy documents. The Canon Pixma can print at a speed of 9.9 pages per minute for black and white and 5.7 pages per minute for color. It also has a larger 100-sheet paper tray. This printer’s wireless setup is seamless and easy, allowing you to start printing quickly. Also: The best photo printers I’ve included smaller photo printers that are for more casual and fun printing, as well as one high-quality option for those photos that you want to frame and remember. The Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 printer is for those looking to maximize the quality of their images in hard copy. The 17-inch wide-format printer comes with an 11-color setup, the Chroma Optimizer ink system, air feed, and nozzle monitor to improve the print speed and hardware performance. At $850, it’s obviously an expensive printer, but it prints high-quality photos. Therefore, if you’re a professional or photographer, this is the photo printer to get. This portable printer is more for fun than anything else. It spits out snapshot-sized prints, similar to the size of old-fashioned Polaroid photos. You can add fun filters and frames to your photos, and you can even print photos from videos, making it a fun option to bring to parties or on vacation. It takes about 12 seconds for a photo to print, and then 90 seconds for it to fully dry. Approximately 100 photos can be printed continuously when fully charged. If you’re looking for a mobile printing solution to produce hard image copies on the go, the Kodak Dock Plus instant photo printer is the best portable option. This mobile printer connects to your Android or iOS mobile device via Bluetooth and is able to print color images at a 4 x 6 ratio, which is arguably one of the most popular image sizes for displaying photos. This photo printer is for those looking to print photos at a reasonable size with reasonable quality, rather than for professionals or on-the-go fun. Also: See how we rank the top 9 laser printers: HP, Canon, Xerox and more This is a monochrome laser printer. That’s it - no faxing, copying, or any of that fancy stuff. It just prints lots of pages quickly and efficiently. The printer itself is relatively compact, offers a 250-sheet paper capacity, and a print speed of 32 pages per minute. This printer is an inexpensive workhorse. If you need to print a lot of black and white pages for a reasonable price, this is the printer for you. The Brother printer costs roughly $120 and offers duplex printing at 27 pages per minute. With a 250-sheet paper tray, it’s a capable device. However, it only connects via USB 2.0 - no Wi-Fi, AirPrint, or Google Cloud Print, not even Ethernet. You just need to plug in a USB cable from your computer to the printer and print away. Most laser printers are pretty large, but if your home office is a smaller space, this printer is only 7.45 x 13.63 x 6.26 inches, meaning it can fit comfortable on your desk. It connects over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and USB, and can print up to 21 ppm. This printer utilizes the HP Smart App so you can print, scan and copy from your phone – from anywhere. Aside from the overall price, take into consideration additional costs, such as monthly subscriptions or apps as well as ink cartridges.
